After two awful losses that have put a seemingly assured debut place in the finals in jeopardy, Gold Coast spoke of getting back to basics this week. And who better to do it against than this season’s likely wooden spooner? Surely, StKilda would be brushed aside if the Suns were serious about September.

Danny Stanley of the Suns breaks a tackle to handball during the game against the Saints on Saturday. Photo: Getty Images

But going back to basics means not thinking about September; it means focusing on the here and now. At the very least the Suns showed they were serious about that; contested possessions were up, so too overall disposals, and, after taking just one mark in the first quarter last week, they grabbed 15 this time – eight of them inside 50.

That last statistic was one major difference between the teams, Nick Riewoldt’s tireless running notwithstanding – most of his possessions were forced well upfield – as the Suns ran out 53-point winners. The Saints had grimly stayed in touch for three quarters, but submitted in the end, a six-goal last quarter ensuring the result.

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Tom Lynch started and finished the match most strongly, with four goals and six marks. But the Suns had too many options overall, with a spread of 12 players booting majors, the last a signature 65-metre ‘‘cannon’’ by Trent McKenzie. And many of their worst performers last week bounced back in the way that good players should.

Chief among them were ball-winners Jaeger O’Meara and Dion Prestia, who provided much-needed leadership and poise. Harley Bennell became more influential the longer the match progressed, adding a touch of A-grade class the Suns have sorely lacked in Gary Ablett’s absence.

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The upshot? Well, the Suns are back in the eight for now, but they’ll still want to get a whole lot better than they were for long stretches against the Saints if they are to be anything more than cannon fodder without Ablett. You could have cued the Benny Hill theme at several points in the first half as the teams traded turnover after turnover. At times it looked like an exhibition of two teams on the bottom of the pile, not just one. Perhaps the Suns were too desperate to atone for last week’s atrocity against the Brisbane Lions, and thinking about the past, surely, is as fatal as thinking about the future in football.

Their performance was tight and, at times, ill-tempered; several times in the first half squabbles between players threatened to boil over into a full-blown melee. Commendably, the umpires let the play go, but it remained a comedy of errors. Momentum shifts had as much to do with concentration lapses as skill.

The best/worst moment came late in the first quarter when a passage of kick-to-kick between the two teams finished with a goal to the Suns’ Matt Shaw that was more embarrassing than exhilarating. And both sides missed elementary shots at goal throughout.

The Suns preserved a slender lead at half-time but the Saints had the better of the momentum and there might have been some nervous players in the change rooms. It swung quickly after the breakthough, three goals in five minutes to the home side quickly taking their advantage out beyond four goals.

The Saints had their opportunities to put pressure on but blew them, often at critical times, whether it was missing goals or gifting them to their opponents. They nagged away for three quarters, and former Giant Josh Bruce was a bright light with three goals, but never looked like providing much more than nuisance value.

One player kept showing how football is played. Lenny Hayes may be in his last season but it’s to his everlasting credit that he will leave the game as an example to everyone, particularly to his teammates, of how it should be done.